After Brexit Italian Referendum Concerns Rise

It’s now a familiar refrain: A European prime minister calls a referendum, his job could be on the line and markets are getting worried.

This time it’s not Britain’s David Cameron but Italy’s Matteo Renzi, who has called a vote on an ambitious overhaul of the political system aimed at ending the country’s unstable governments. If he loses, Renzi has promised to quit, an outcome that Citigroup Inc. called probably the biggest risk in European politics this year outside the U.K.

The vote is expected in October, though it is already spooking investors and Italian bonds are once more under-performing their Spanish peers. The yield on 10-year Italian securities overtook those on similar-maturity Spanish debt for the first time in almost a year on June 27, a day after Spain’s Acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy defied opinion polls to consolidate his position in a general election.

A public opinion poll by Euromedia Research said that 34 percent of Italians would vote against Renzi’s plan, with 28.9 percent in favor, 19.4 percent undecided on which way to vote and 17.7 percent undecided on whether to vote. The poll based on 1,000 interviews was conducted on July 1. No exact date for the referendum has been set.

via Bloomberg

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